Experiential Learning

I hear, I know, I see, I remember, I do, I understand. Confucius, Chinas most famous teacher, philosopher, and political theorist. 551 479 BC

Definition
Experiential learning is "knowledge, skills, and/or abilities attained through observation, simulation, and/or participation that provide depth and meaning to learning by engaging the mind and/or body through activity, reflection, and application." (Craig 1997). Experiential learning can have an extremely broad or narrow definition depending on what might be considered an "experience". If you study the broad spectrum you will find that a simple definition of learning by doing, or learning through direct contact with the subject matter, is not at all adequate. In order to understand the full scope of experiential learning we have developed a definition that meets the broader requirements. http://people.uleth.ca/~steve.craig/whatis.htm

History
Value of experience as a tool for creating knowledge and human development was seen as early as the 4th century B.C. In the 20th Century, the work of John Dewey brought forth the concept of learning through experience. This has been valued as an important foundation for the formal education setting. In the 1910s, 20s, and 30s Dewey challenged educators to create educational programs that did not isolate education from experiences. In the 60s and 70s psychologists, sociologists, and educators believed in the value of experience. This was not to be in place of theory and lecture, but in addition to. Among these are Piaget, Chickering, Tumin, Bloom, Friere, Gardner, and Lewin. Most recently, David Kolb has been a proponent in support of experiential learning stating that learning is multi-dimensional process. http://people.uleth.ca/~steve.craig/history.htm

Theory
With the need for theory explained, it is important to understand why experience is an important aspect of learning. "Students who use information they are trying to learn, who challenge and grapple with their new knowledge, or who use it to solve problems, tend to learn more effectively than students who passively read, memorize, or merely absorb that to which they have been exposed." W.J. McKeachie (1963:1118). "Recent research on memory has shifted in attention from the material to be learned to the mental activities of the learner - learners remember not what they encounter while learning so much as what they do while learning." Fergus, Craik, & Tulving (1975:268294). Dewey felt experience was a cycle of trying. One senses a concern, gets an idea, tries it out in an arena of applicability, undergoes or experiences the consequences, and confirms or reinterprets theory in the light of those consequences. In the best case, this process results in a reconstruction of experience, a re-codifying of habits, and an ongoing active questioning through further experimentation. http://people.uleth.ca/~steve.craig/ellinks.htm

Learning Environment
Experiential learning can take place in many different settings and have many objectives. The more than fifty forms of experiential learning researched can be found in every setting from the classroom to a mountain top in Tibet.

Depending on the setting of the program, goals of the facilitator and participator, the situation in which they are involved, and the outcomes attained, an experiential learning program may fit all or some of either employment, educational, personal development, or leisure based scenarios. Ultimately it provides for affective and behavioral, as well as cognitive learning. Whether it can be in the classroom, field of occupation, or the great outdoors, experiential learning is a less abstract learning tool that allows the participant to test theory while demanding that the learner articulate their own questions and seek their own answers. http://people.uleth.ca/~steve.craig/eltech.htm

Learning Cycles (Sequencing)

An 'experiential learning cycle' is a means of representing sequences in experiential learning. It is often assumed that the stages of a 'learning cycle' are managed by a facilitator, but they can also be self-managed or even 'unmanaged' in the sense that learning from experience is a normal everyday process for most people. From a trainer's perspective, an experiential learning cycle is a 2, 3, 4 or 5 stage learning sequence which encourages continuity from one experience to another. 'Experiential learning' can apply to any kind of learning through experience. 'Experiential learning' is often used by providers of training or education to refer to a structured learning sequence which is guided by a cyclical model of experiential learning. Less contrived forms of experiential learning (including accidental or unintentional learning) are usually described in more everyday language such as 'learning from experience' or 'learning through experience'. http://people.uleth.ca/~steve.craig/progress.htm

Experiential Learning Models and Learning Styles

A closer examination of the ELT learning model suggests that learning requires abilities that are polar opposites, and that the learner must continually choose which set of learning abilities he or she will use in a specific learning situation. In grasping experience some of us perceive new information through experiencing the concrete, tangible, felt qualities of the world, relying on our senses and immersing ourselves in concrete reality.

Others tend to perceive, grasp, or take hold of new information through symbolic representation or abstract conceptualization thinking about, analyzing, or systematically planning, rather than using sensation as a guide. Similarly, in transforming or processing experience some of us tend to carefully watch others who are involved in the experience and reflect on what happens, while others choose to jump right in and start doing things. The watchers favor reflective observation, while the doers favor active experimentation. Each dimension of the learning process presents us with a choice. Since it is virtually impossible, for example, to simultaneously drive a car (Concrete Experience) and analyze a drivers manual about the cars functioning (Abstract Conceptualization), we resolve the conflict by choosing. Because of our hereditary equipment, our particular past life experiences, and the demands of our present environment, we develop a preferred way of choosing. We resolve the conflict between concrete and abstract and between active or reflective in some patterned, characteristic ways. We call these patterned ways learning styles. http://www.edbatista.com/2007/10/experiential.html

Learning Model/Style/Kolb
There are many models that discuss the theory of experiential learning but perhaps the most recognized is that of David Kolb. According to Kolbs (1984) Learning Model, learning, change, and growth are best facilitated by an integrated process that begins with: Concrete Experience => the tangible qualities of the immediate experience and the grasping of knowledge Reflective Observing=> a collection of data through observation and critical thought regarding these experiences. Abstract Conceptualizing => the process of analyzing the data received and an internal process of developing concepts and theory from the experience. Active Experimenting => a modification of behavior and knowledge occurs, while the implications of future actions are considered. New Concepts in new situations

Factors that Influence Learning Styles

The Learning Style Inventory: Four Basic Learning Styles
In 1971 David Kolb developed the Learning Style Inventory (LSI) to assess individual learning styles. While individuals tested on the LSI show many different patterns of scores, research on the instrument has identified four statistically prevalent learning styles -- Diverging, Assimilating, Converging, and Accommodating (Figure 1). The following summary of the four basic learning styles is based on both research and clinical observation of these patterns of LSI scores (Kolb, 1984, 1999a, 1999b). Diverging: the Diverging styles dominant learning abilities are Concrete Experience (CE) and Reflective Observation (RO). People with this learning style are best at viewing concrete situations from many different points of view. It is labeled Diverging because a person with it performs better in situations that call for generation of ideas, such as a brainstorming session. Assimilating: the Assimilating styles dominant learning abilities are Abstract Conceptualization (AC) and Reflective Observation (RO). People with this learning style are best at understanding a wide range of information and putting into concise, logical form. Individuals with an Assimilating style are less focused on people and more interested in ideas and abstract concepts. Converging: The Converging styles dominant learning abilities are Abstract Conceptualization (AC) and Active Experimentation (AE). People with this learning style are best at finding practical uses for ideas and theories. They have the ability to solve problems and make decisions based on finding solutions to questions or problems. Individuals with a Converging learning style prefer to deal with technical tasks and problems rather than with social issues and interpersonal issues. Accommodating: the Accommodating styles dominant learning abilities are Concrete Experience (CE) and Active Experimentation (AE). People with this learning style have the ability to learn from primarily hand-on experience. They enjoy carrying out plans and involving themselves in new and challenging experiences. http://www.edbatista.com/2007/10/experiential.html

Learning Model/Style/Greenaway
According to Roger Greenaway, an experiential learning cycle is "a structured learning sequence which is guided by a cyclical model." The primary model is a 4-stage cycle derived from David Kolb's learning styles model: ACT: do something--anything, in fact. Run a meeting, give a presentation, have a difficult conversation. (One of the most valuable aspects of this model is the way in which it allows us to turn every experience into a learning opportunity. The challenge,

of course, is that we rarely complete the cycle and leave most potential learning untapped.) REFLECT: look back on your experience and assess the results. Determine what happened, what went well and what didn't. CONCEPTUALIZE: make sense of your experience. Seek to understand why things turned out as they did. Draw some conclusions and make some hypotheses. APPLY: put those hypotheses to the test. Don't simply re-act. Instead, have a conscious plan to do things differently to be more effective. And begin the cycle again.

http://www.edbatista.com/2007/10/experiential.html

Factors that Shape and Influence Learning Styles

During the last three decades researchers have examined the characteristics of learning styles at five particular levels of behavior: Personality Types: ELT follows Carl Jung in recognizing that learning styles result from individuals preferred ways for adapting in the world. Educational Specialization: early educational experiences shape peoples individual learning styles by instilling positive attitudes toward specific sets of learning skills and by teaching students how to learn. o Although elementary education is generalized, there is an increasing process of specialization that begins at high school and becomes sharper during the college years. This specialization in the realms of social knowledge influences individuals orientations

toward learning, resulting to particular relations between learning styles and early training in an educational specialty or discipline. o people with undergraduate majors in the Arts, History, Political science, English, and Psychology tend to have Diverging learning styles, o while those majoring in more abstract and applied areas like Physical Sciences and Engineering have Converging learning styles. o Individuals with Accommodating 9 styles have educational backgrounds in Business and Management, and those with Assimilating styles in Economics, Mathematics, Sociology, and Chemistry. Professional Career Choice: a third set of factors that shape learning styles stems from professional careers. o Ones professional career choice not only exposes one to a specialized learning environment, but it also involves a commitment to a generic professional problem, such as social service, that requires a specialized adaptive orientation. o In addition, one becomes a member of a reference group of peers who share a professional mentality, and a common set of values and beliefs about how one should behave professionally. This professional orientation shapes learning style through habits acquired in professional training and through the more immediate normative pressures involved in being a competent professional. Current Job Role: the fourth level of factors influencing learning style is the persons current job role. http://www.edbatista.com/2007/10/experiential.html

Conclusion
In the emerging, networked world of information-based economies, learning is becoming more important than productivity in determining a person's 28 or an organization's adaptation, survival, and growth (Kelly, 1999). Increasingly complex and service-oriented jobs demand flexibility as a requirement for success. We believe that Experiential Learning Theory helps us to understand learning and flexibility at a deeper and yet more comprehensive level than previously. It also provides guidance for applications to helping people improve their learning and designing better processes in education and development. For those with an interest in learning organizations, it provides a theory and assessment methods for the inclusion of the study of individual differences while addressing learning at many levels in organizations and society.

Resources
Experiential Learning Links

http://people.uleth.ca/~steve.craig/ellinks.htm Experiential Learning Techniques

http://people.uleth.ca/~steve.craig/ellinks.htm Adult Education Leisure Classes Adventure Education Applied Study Apprenticeship Classroom Media Collaborative Program Contract Learning Community Support Programs Co-operative Education Co-operative Learning Cross-Cultural Experience Cross-Cultural Study Environmental Awareness Experience Based Training & Development Experiential Education Experimentation Externship Field Study Fox-Fire Gaming Group Interaction Inter-Session Jan-Plans Life Skill Living/Learning Term Mentoring Mid-Winter Term Mini-Internship Outward Bound Personal Enrichment Practicum Prior Learning Problem Based Learning Project Based Learning Psychodrama Sandwich Plan Service Learning Simulation Special Needs Occupational Training Team Building Shadowing T-Groups

 Incidental Learning Inmate Work Programs Interactive Learning

Therapeutic Experience Volunteering Workship

References
Craig, S. (1997). What is experiential learning? Unpublished manuscript University of Lethbridge, UK. Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: The Macmillan Company. Fergus, I., Craik, & Tulving, E. (1975). Depth of processing and the retention of words in episodic memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology 104(3) 268-294. Greenway, R. (1995). Powerful learning experiences in management learning and development. Doctoral Thesis. University of Lancaster, UK. Centre for the Study of Management Learning. Kelly, K. (1999). New rules for a new economy: 10 radical strategies for a connected world. New York: Viking Press. Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Kolb, D. A., Rubin, I. M., & McIntyre, J. (Eds., 1971). Organizational psychology: An experiential approach. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall. McKeachie, W. J. (1963). Research on teaching at the college and university level. In N. L. Gage (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Teaching. Chicago, Ill: Rand McNally.